James K posted: defense against what?
All I can say is, against whatever. I usually carry a 5 shot 38 or two. I like the reliabilty of a revolver and I like the ability to walk through a dark parking lot with my gun in my hand in a jacket pocket. But, I can shoot an automatic more accurately. Just trying to get a sounding on other peoples thoughts.

Now realistically I feel pretty well armed with a Model 36. I do carry at least one reload (usually 2) just in case. If I opt for the 1911, it's 8+1 plus a reload for a total of 17. Not that I think I need that many rounds, I just like to be prepared for the worst I guess.

I might be sorry some day if I get into one of those unlikely situations, that could happen, where I need to survive a fire fight but I do not let it keep me up at night. But I generally only carry whatever the capacity of my side arm is. Most often 8+1 9mm or 6 .357, occasionally 15+1 9mm, rarely 7+1 .45

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Seams like once we the people give what, at the time, seams like a reasonable inch and "they" take the unreasonable mile we can only get that mile back one inch at a time.

No spelun and grammar is not my specialty. So please don't hurt my sensitive little feelings by teasing me about it.

This question has been asked many times and always with similar answers.

Some say 5-6 is enough or even more than enough. If you never have to use your gun then it may just be the perfect number?

Even well trained LEO's can dump a 15 round mag in a few seconds and not hit the target while under fire/stress.

Some say you can never have enough ammo if you end up in a gunfight. I personally feel it's just like gathering firewood in a survival scenario, once you think you have enough go get some more! It gets cold in a hurry when the wood runs out and you could be permanently cold if the ammo runs out!

I was reading an interesting analysis of "stopping power", which took a somewhat different approach. Most, that are or are claimed to be based on observed shooting results, use percentage of "one shot stops" as the sole yardstick.
Someone took a look at what happens when one shot didn't stop the altercation, which would include the results of a lot of shootings that would be excluded if you were interested in only one-shot stops.
What was discovered was that there really wasn't a huge disparity in handgun ammo performance in one-shot stop cases, but if one didn't stop it, there's a strong correlation between the size of the bullet and how many additional shots were "required" (fired).
So, if you know for a fact that a single shot is going to end it, you might as well use a .22, but if you don't know how many rounds it's going to take, it's likely that the bigger the bullet, the fewer additional rounds will be required.
I carry a .45 that's loaded 6+1, and sometimes carry a 9mm loaded 13+1, and I'm comfortable with either (and sometimes both).

What was discovered was that there really wasn't a huge disparity in handgun ammo performance in one-shot stop cases, but if one didn't stop it, there's a strong correlation between the size of the bullet and how many additional shots were "required" (fired).

Do you remember where you read this or who wrote it? I'd really like to read it.

Quote:

How many shots is enough?

It depends on the situation.

I've never had to fire my gun in self-defense yet, so at least to date, for me, no shots has always been enough.

In many cases, a single shot is sufficient to end the attack--not usually because it disables the attacker but because it rearranges his priorities without the need for a second round to hammer the point home.

And in some cases, it takes more than one shot--generally when the attacker isn't ready to give up easily.

Here's a very basic/simplified overview of the multi-shot scenario.

If you talk to the experts, they tell you not to expect that a single handgun round will be sufficient to stop an attacker. So let's assume that we might need 2 hits to have a good chance of ending the attack. It may take a lot more than that, or it might take only one, but 2 is a good place to start.

If you read police shooting reports, you'll find that, unlike in the movies, people often miss what they shoot at. Especially when the target is moving and shooting back. In shootouts with criminals, police officers score a hit with about every 1 out of 3 shots, on average.

If you pay attention to crime reports, you'll find that criminals like to keep the advantage in their favor when possible and that means that it's not terribly uncommon for the criminal to bring some backup to your self-defense shooting.

So let's say you encounter 2 attackers, you shoot about as well as the average police officer and you need to hit each attacker twice to have a good chance of winning (surviving).

Assuming you get to shoot all your shots before getting disabled or killed yourself, and assuming you're good enough to avoid wasting bullets on an attacker who has already been hit twice and is therefore already disabled (according to the rules of our simple scenario), your chances are as follows.

The first number is the number of shots in your self-defense gun. The second number is your chance of making 2 hits on each of 2 attackers before your gun runs empty--assuming that your hit rate is 30% .

5 : 3.1%
6 : 7.1%
7 : 12.6%
8 : 19.4%
9 : 27%
10: 35%

If those numbers make you want to swallow hard, and then get up to go watch TV in hopes that you'll forget them quickly, we can look at the less challenging situation where there's only one attacker but all our other assumptions remain unchanged.

- reloads are extremely rare (one analysis of 482 documented DGUs determined that about 0.5% in the study involved reloads)

- in the vast majority of uses, the stop is psychological. The bad guy quits, because "GUN!!!"

Caliber is a non-issue in most DGUs. A 5 shot J-Frame is plenty for the average DGU. A person could carry one and be well prepared for most cases. When it comes down to it, we're ALL playing the odds to varying degrees. If a person is content being ready for most situations, I understand. Personally, I prefer to prepare for exceptional circumstances.

I've been legally concealed-carrying since 1989. 95% of that time it's been with 5 rounds of .357. Occasionally it's been 16 rounds of 9mm. Rarely it's been 8 rounds of 45acp.

In that time this has been sufficient, backed with thousands of practice rounds down range.

To date no ZombieNaziNinjaBabyRapers have crossed my path, though I did have an interesting encounter once in Kansas City (opening my jacket was sufficient to reinforce my message to the concerned citizens I needed no assistance with a flat tire).

When some say "use enough gun" it's not a issue of carrying 5, 10, or 15 rounds. It's a issue of using the best type ammunition for the caliber & having good marksmanship skills.
Learning what rounds work best & training properly will work best.

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